The Batman-Issue Three: Alliance
by RabidDog008
Summary: The Gordon's make an alliance with the Batman. Comic coming soon. The links in the afterword vanished. They were; rabiddog008., and /RabidDog008


Barbara sat cross-legged on the couch in her father's flat watching the TV; she was waiting for him to finish cleaning the kitchen and go to bed. Jim cleared the sink of the remaining soap bubbles before kissing her goodnight and heading to his room. After a few minutes she heard the shower start then come to stop a short while later. The clock on the wall struck 10 PM and Barbara got up, and crept into the spare bedroom where she had left her bag earlier in the evening. Opening it up she emptied it of her text books, pencil case and magazines, leaving just her newly sewn cape and cowl neatly folded at the bottom. Removing her shirt she revealed the dark grey leotard with the bat insignia stitched to it, and over it she pulled on her hoodie and sneakers before slinging the bag over her shoulder. Slowly and silently she exited her room and the flat, locking the door behind her.

Barbara often went out for late night walks around the neighbourhood, visiting one of the diners or even the late night library to the west in Gotham's middle island, so her absence wouldn't be thought too much of if her father were to wake. Not that tonight she was going to any of those places; tonight she would begin what she hoped would become a career as a costumed vigilante.

Down the street was a gym and martial arts centre that allowed members to come and go as they pleased. Fortunately Barbara was a member. She entered through the back and into the empty changing rooms, stripping down to her vigilante outfit and stowing her bag in her locker. Boots laced, utility belt fastened and long gloves clipped into place with push studs, she tied her hair into a tight bun before slipping the balaclava-like, pointy-eared mask over her head. As she closed her locker she saw herself in the mirror; with a long, black, batwing shaped cape draping to the ground, and elbow, knee and shin pads over her leotard. Hopefully they'd work when needed. "Let's do this." She breathed.

The streets were quiet but Barbara stuck to the back alleyways regardless. She swung herself up onto a metal industrial bin out the back of an apartment block and jumped up to the first level of the fire escape. She climbed the first few rungs of the ladder using just her hands before she pulled her legs up to climb properly. Reaching the second level, Barbara leaned over the railing and looked to the roof, counting another thirteen more levels to climb. She'd have to be quick and careful; the fire escapes were of course leading out from apartments, many of which showed signs of life.

On the seventh level Barbara was almost caught; as she climbed up from the sixth, the apartment window below her opened and a man stepped out, lighting a cigarette in his hands. Barbara gritted her teeth and climbed up to the next level as quietly as she could manage, her fingers stiff with the pain of hanging from the ladder for so long. She stepped onto the metal grate of the seventh level and the man below her paused. Barbara held her breath, but he didn't look up.

Continuing up was uneventful, until she reached the roof. There was a large group of people gathered for a party, some dancing drunkenly to the music while others stood around and gossiped with champagne in their hands. Coloured lights swung from scaffolding and party streamers were draped over almost everything in sight. Barbara vaulted from the top of the fire escape over the low ledge and onto the roof with the partygoers. Crouching in the shadows, she moved around the buffet table and outermost ring of tables and chairs to the other side of the roof, then leapt across the gap to the next building.

An hour passed and nothing happened, but Barbara was still buzzing with adrenaline. She'd been watching over a group of three thuggish looking hoods in an alley about half a mile from where she'd started. They'd gotten rowdier as time had gone on and thrown their beer bottles into the corner before heading off onto the street. Barbara managed to follow them as they made their way through the streets to a laundrette. They looked around the street as they entered, one of them reaching into his back pocket. They didn't seem to be there to wash their clothes.

Her heart began to pound as she looked over the edge for a way down. As she'd made her way further south the buildings had become shorter, this one was only six floors. She spotted a drain pipe a few meters over, and before pulling herself over she grabbed it and tried shaking it as hard as she could. Verifying its sturdiness, she held on as she made her way backwards down to the ground. Pulling her cape around her, she crept out onto the street and out the front of the laundrette. Just as she'd thought, she saw the three thugs holding the place up.

The laundrette was a rectangular room about five meters wide by fifteen deep. The front of it was made of floor-to-ceiling windows with bars on the outside, the door to the left, the inside sparse with white walls and the lino black and white chequered floor. The left hand side of the room was lined with front loading washing machines while the right with front loading driers, with two flat, cushioned, red upholstered benches for people to sit on running down the very middle. Directly facing the door was the counter, behind that a door leading through to the staff area, and a window stripped with mirror/glass for security purposes covered the rest of the back wall. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling gave the room a bright glow while the air smelled of fabric softener.

The noise of the opening door could barely be heard over the commotion inside. Yelling from the thugs to open the register with retorts from the cashier allowed Barbara to slip inside and slide the bolt across to lock them all in. "Please don't let that be a bad idea..." she whispered, analysing the scene before her. The three thugs stood at the counter, their backs to her while the cashier was too focused on them to notice her. An opened box of washing powder was placed on the bench, close to the counter. Leaning by the door was a mop which Barbara grabbed. Holding it in both hands, she ran forward, raising it level with the thug's heads.

Twisting her body to the left and the end with the mop head with it, she swung forward using all her might, bashing the first thug in the side of the head. He fell, and with barely a pause she jabbed back the other way, the end of the mop handle hitting the second thug. They collapsed as the third thug turned with a bewildered look on his face. Barbara threw the mop at him and spun on her heel, grabbing the box of washing powder and emptying it in his eyes. She leapt up onto the bench, jumping at the third thug and delivering a kick to his chest. The first two had barely managed to pull themselves up and were still reeling from the first blows. She turned back and pushed the creeping feeling of growing fear aside. She knew she would have to stun the thugs again to finish them, but the mop on the ground was too great a risk to reach down for. By her side was a basket filled with dirty clothes, so she grabbed a handful and threw them at the thug's faces. The closest flailed blindly as she dropped to her knees and punched his groin. He fell and she clambered onto the bench again, glaring down at the first thug. She tightened her fists as he ran to the door to get away from her. Barbara started after him but stopped as he tried to run through the outwards opening door, only to smash into it while the lock and hinges groaned from the strain

Barbara relaxed, panting as she climbed down from the bench. She reached for the water bottle in her belt and took a swig, walking over to check on the cashier. The middle aged man got up from behind the counter and looked over the defeated thugs, completely agog. "Are you okay?" Barbara asked, trying to keep her composure.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Who are you?" he spluttered.

Barbara wiped her mouth and placed the bottle back in her belt, "I'm Batgirl," she said, "Did you hit the panic button?"

"I haven't got a panic button." the cashier answered.

"Call the police and open the door for them when they get here. I'm wondering if you have a back door?" she asked as she made her way around the counter.

"Yes, through here," the cashier gestured through to the back of the store, "Thank you for that, it was amazing. I can't believe what I saw."

"Neither can I." Barbara agreed, walking through the back and outside to the alley. Barbara climbed on top of an SUV to reach another fire escape and got up onto the roof. She sat out there for a few minutes before the police arrived and were let in by the cashier. They emerged a short while later with the three thugs in chains while an ambulance pulled up out front to assess them. Barbara couldn't help but grin as she looked to the starry sky and took in a breath of the crisp night air. As she looked back down she noticed a figure on the roof across the street; dressed in black with a flowing cape, his pointed ears barely visible against the shadows. Barbara's mouth dropped open and she clapped her hand across it to stop herself gasping with surprise and joy. His head seemed to turn and from across the street, his white eyes looked as if they were studying her before he turned and left.

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

2 AM at Wayne Manor in the Pennyworth's bedroom, Alfred lay in the bed beside his wife Harriet, reading through the second to last chapter of a thick novel. On the bedside cabinet sitting in its cradle, his mobile phone buzzed and lit up with a received message. Putting his bookmark in place he reached over to open the phone, seeing a message from Bruce. He pulled himself out of bed and put the covers back before getting his slippers and dressing gown and tiptoeing out of the room.

He went down the hallway and into the kitchen. In the pantry he opened the secret doorway and got into the restored service elevator. At the bottom of the elevator shaft the doors opened to the Batcave, where the air felt warm like the heaters were on. Alfred followed the walkway to the main cavern where Bruce stood by the metal cupboard in the work area, packing away the last bits of his armour.

Bruce looked back and saw him enter. "I hope I didn't wake you, you didn't have to come down." he said as he shut the cupboard and locked it.

"If you didn't want that, you wouldn't go texting me when you get home at 2 in the morning." Alfred replied, retightening the cord of his dressing gown.

Bruce shrugged and turned off the heaters and lights by the control pad on the work bench, walking out of the Perspex-encased work area. "I saw something interesting while out tonight."

"Oh yes?"

"Yes… another costumed vigilante," he mused as he opened the doors to the service elevator, Alfred following, "A 'Batwoman'."

"Oh really?" Alfred asked again, this time with more interest in his tone.

Bruce shut the doors and pressed the button, and the elevator made its ascent to the pantry. "Or perhaps actually, a Batgirl. I was about fifty feet away but even from that distance she looked pretty young."

"And what was this young, Batgirl character doing that caught your attention, other than being dressed like you?" the two of them stepped out from the elevator and shut the secret entrance behind them.

"I was in the south of Middle Gotham when my scan picked up a disturbance a few streets over. Just some guys robbing a laundrette. When I got there the Batgirl went in, locked the door behind her and dealt with the three thugs pretty swiftly." Bruce filled the kettle and placed it on the stove, "Care for some tea?"

"I thought I was meant to be your butler," Alfred replied, "What do you think of her?"

Bruce came to a stop and ran his right hand over his chin, deep in thought. "I guess," he started, "I need to find out who she is. Not just beneath the mask, but what her intention is, her motivation, her reasoning."

"And you're the only one in Gotham with dibs on the masked crime fighting then?" asked Alfred.

"No, no it's just," Bruce chuckled. He paused, "She wasn't completely prepared. No real armour, nothing to keep her safe, and who knows what her limits are. She finished off two of the guys with improvised weapons and let the last guy injure himself so badly he needed an ambulance."

"And you're saying you're not doing the same to this city's criminals?" Alfred walked over to a kitchen cabinet where some of the crockery was kept, taking two tea cups out.

"He ran head first into a glass door. It's morbid but I have to crack a smile at that. I'll see if this Batgirl comes out again, seeing how she's dressed I'm guessing she's most likely to be a fan, and try to make out if she's doing it for the best."

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

Two days had passed and Batman had yet to see the Batgirl again. He'd been caught the previous night trying to stop a van full of criminals fleeing from a spree of robberies on a gun store, service station and a clothing store. The sight of the Batman landing on the van's hood had paralysed the driver in shock, and the van went careening off the road and into a shop front.

The police had been in close pursuit and they quickly descended on the scene. Batman watched from above as Jim Gordon stopped by and left in a hurry after receiving a call on his mobile. Jim could still be a valuable ally with just a bit more persuasion, so Batman made a note to try and visit him on his night off back home.

But now Batman had found himself trapped between seven armed assailants in the middle of a drug deal. He'd been watching from the roof for a minute before he decided to lower himself down into the fray. _Practise, _he thought. He landed in the centre of the gathering and many leapt back. Three of them reached for their weapons as he dropped a smoke pellet, flooding the alleyway and causing one to panic fire, the bullets ricocheting off the concrete walls. The lenses in his helmet switched to thermal vision and he quickly incapacitated the three with guns. One swung blindly in his direction as he ducked and kicked him in the stomach, flinging him back into their buddy standing behind them. The smoke cleared with a gust of wind down the alley and Batman felt a dull _thud _in the middle of his back. He turned to see his attacker, an overweight man in a cheap suit, drop to his knees, clutching at his broken hand. The final dealer tried to run back to his car, a black sedan parked over the alley's end, but failed to make it far as he dropped to the ground, his feet tripping over a batarang that Batman had thrown at him. The dealer blindly grabbed at a dumpster for support, trying to get up again as Batman strode up behind him and took him in a headlock, finishing him off with an oxygen mask-like device from his belt filled with knockout gas. Batman dropped the dealer and straightened up, placing the device back when he heard a _thwack _come from behind.

He turned and saw the dealer in the cheap suit who'd punched him collapse back down, a steel pipe falling from his good hand. Standing over him was the Batgirl, her grey-blue eyes visible through her homemade cowl glancing between the attacker and Batman. The two looked over each other and Batgirl stood up straight, relaxing from her defensive stance.

They stood a few seconds more before Batman turned away. "Wait." she said, stepping towards him.

"Drag him and his friend over to me." Batman ordered stoically as he grabbed a thug by the collar and hauled him into the middle of the alley. He'd managed to attract the Batgirl and he could tell she wanted to talk to him as much as he did to her, perhaps even more so. He just decided not to make his longing known.

Once the seven men were sat back to back to one another, Batman cuffed their hands together behind their backs. Using the control pad on his left gauntlet he called the police, "Citizen's arrest in alley on 51st before Sodium Street. Drug deal, seven suspects, all apprehended." he told the operator before hanging up and walking to the alley's end.

"Wait!" Batgirl called out again, following after him, "I don't quite… it was really," she fumbled, trying to find the right words.

Batman pulled his grappling gun from his belt, "Take my hand," he said, offering it to her. She grabbed it and he pulled her close, firing the grapple to the roof of the building before swooping up. Reaching the top Batgirl pulled herself up and over with ease as he marched across to the next roof, putting some distance between them and the crime scene below. He glanced back to make sure she was keeping up, and was glad to see her practically on his heel. After a few minutes they came to a stop on a higher roof, Batman pulling her up to him and motioning for her to sit at the wrought iron, white painted table and chairs by the small community garden some of the building's residents had put together. He paced back and forth slowly, noticing she watched his every move.

"You're Batgirl, yes?" he asked quietly, his voice deliberately deeper than his natural tone.

"That works." she answered.

"I noticed your age after the laundrette a few nights ago." Batman stopped pacing.

"I saw you too." Batgirl smiled a little.

_Thought so. Seems I'm visible to those in the same line of work, _he mused. "Why are you out here?"

Batgirl sat up slightly, "I was inspired by you," she replied, "It seems stupid and suicidal but I wanted to help uphold the law-" she stumbled over the last bit of her sentence, almost like she was embarrassed by what she said.

"Had no normal means of law-keeping occurred to you?"

"Of course! All the time, it's just that it's nearly impossible… for me. I wanted to do something and this seemed… um..." she pursed her lips.

She was having trouble with that. Time for a quick diversion. "Taekwondo I see?" Batman said, referring to her fighting style and stance she had adopted earlier.

"Fourth kup." she replied quickly.

Batman nodded. He'd studied it years before, along with several other forms of martial arts. "Quite the improviser too, judging by your mop usage." She nodded too; the glint in her eyes showed a mixture of concern and excitement.

Batman looked over her, folding his arms and deep in thought. She watched him expectantly for nearly a minute before he spoke, "It is suicidal. But I could train and better armour you. Either that or forbid you from doing this and turn you in."

"Why would you do that? What's the difference between you and me?" she asked.

Batman glanced over her hockey and kneepads to his own full body armour. He looked her in the eyes and she looked back into his, before he realised that she couldn't even see his, just the glowing lenses on his helmet. A question popped into his head and he lowered himself down to her level. "Would you ever kill someone?"

Batgirl swallowed hard and flinched, visibly disturbed by the question. "No," she answered, "I don't want to kill anyone, no matter what happened. If it was someone random or someone I knew, it wouldn't matter. It's not the right thing to do and it'd make me as bad as they were."

The question had caught her off guard but the look on her face said more than her words. She'd shown control in the fight at the laundrette and used her surroundings to the best of her ability. True it wasn't the most intense situation, but many vigilantes would have likely pummelled the aggressors as their rage took over. It was a driving force between quite a few citizen crime fighters, but Batgirl's motives were unclear. She had wanted to be a police officer but for whatever reason was unable to, the need to do something to uphold the law was enough to make her take to the streets like him. Mental stability of a costumed vigilante aside, it seemed she had positive intentions. If left to her own devices, those intentions would become muddied. Guidance is what she needed.

"Are you familiar with the library in Central Gotham?" Batman asked, standing up again.

She smiled a little, "It's about six blocks from here."

_She knows her stuff, _Batman thought to himself. "Meet me there on the roof tomorrow night at 12:30. If delayed I'll wait half an hour, the same for you if I am too."

"Really?" her visible face cracked with excitement.

"It seems this is a two person job," he walked to the edge of the roof, stepping onto the ledge, "I'll see you there." he said as he leapt off and swooped away into the night.

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

Their meeting had not gone unnoticed. Watching from across the street but well out of hearing range of their conversation, Selina Kyle ducked out of sight as Batgirl looked out onto the street, trying to see where Batman had gone. Selina peered around the corner of the building and removed her balaclava, opening her satchel to see the thick wads of cash inside. She pulled out her phone and dialled Holly, making sure she wasn't being seen by either of the costumed vigilantes. "Hey Hols," she said as the phone was answered, "I'm about ten minutes away. You're not going to believe what I just saw, I've had the best idea…"

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

The clock struck 11:15 as Jim Gordon switched on the lights at the front of his house to take out the rubbish for collection in the morning. As he made his way back to the house something on the roof caught his eye. He froze as the shadow lowered itself down into a shadowy part of the veranda, "Lieutenant Gordon," Batman whispered.

Gordon relaxed and walked onto the veranda, "You took off in quite a hurry last week." he said quietly.

"I was there to speak to you and you only. Apologies for my abrupt exit." Batman stepped forward a little, some light spreading over his shoulder and face.

"And I'm sorry too," Gordon put his hands in his trouser pockets, "I've been thinking it over and… I'd like to help. I'd like to, but I can't. Legally."

"I understand. You can't provide me with the information I require, but I'm still willing to share what I know. If I do have one other request, it's that I'm not shot at again in the future."

"I'll try to stop my guys being so trigger happy." Gordon hesitated before continuing, "Could you share some of this information you have now?"

Batman paused and looked over him before reaching back and withdrawing the steel book. Opening it he withdrew a plastic sleave with a few typed sheets of paper inside. He handed it to Gordon. "Two weeks ago a restaurant was bombed in South Gotham but not before twenty three people inside were murdered," Batman said, "One of the men was Tommy Forelli. He was suspected of being involved with the Gotham crime families due to him being in contact with many known family associates. One thing that wasn't known was that he was the leader of the Goterellis, and responsible for masterminding the attack on the ACE Chemical Factory the month before. Of the twenty three killed at the restaurant, his death stands out. The others killed were no one major that I know of, 18 were innocent bystanders seemingly uninvolved with the Mafia."

Gordon was flabbergasted, looking between Batman and the notes, "How do you know all of this? That it was a bombing? The report said-"

"A gas explosion, I heard it on the news. I told you that you were one of a handful of honest police in the city, but the corruption goes further. The ones who analysed the wreckage were paid by the crime families to cover up what happened. It seems there was a weapons stockpile under the restaurant and a bomb was planted there. Naturally the gas line exploded too but that wasn't what caused it."

"You sure about this?" Gordon's brow furrowed, "These are some serious-"

"It may be enough to launch further investigation, in which it should be confirmed," Batman put away his steel book and turned to leave, "Good luck lieutenant."

"If this is true," Batman looked back at Gordon over his shoulder, "Then thank you." Batman tilted his head in acknowledgement before disappearing onto the roof and out of sight.

Batman watched from the top of a telephone pole across the street as Gordon headed back inside his house, leaving the front light on. Down the end of the street a bus pulled in and came to a stop to let a passenger off. Batman pulled his cape up around him in case he was seen and watched the young woman walk up the dark street towards him to make sure she got home safe. Reaching the light streaming in from the Gordon's house she came to a stop and swung her bag off her back and to the ground, bending over to rummage through its contents in search of something. Leaning in to get a closer look, Batman recognised her as Barbara Gordon, Jim's daughter. Having no luck, Barbara tipped the bag on its side, and neatly folded grey leotard with a bat symbol scribbled on the chest tumbled out.

Batman had done more than his fair share of hair raising stunts in the last few weeks but nothing made his heart skip a beat like it had when he realised Lieutenant Gordon's daughter was the Batgirl.

-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-

And now, an afterword and update from the author.

Thank you everybody who has been reading these Batman stories. I started planning these a few years ago as a comic series, and while they only exist so far in written form the comic is coming.

Planning a comic is hard, the biggest issue for me being scripting. I couldn't get the hang of it; I knew what I wanted but I didn't know how to get it on the page in a script format. Also because I didn't really want to. I knew what I wanted, I didn't need some footnotes to convince me further. But I needed to get all my ideas and the plot written so I didn't forget. So I decided to write it as a narrative, this. Writing it out as a story that flows, I hope, I can better picture how it'll look in ink and colour. As such you'll be able to read this story twice, like this and like a proper Batman story in comic form. There will be differences, some small variations in descriptions of characters, locations, events as well as information that can't be expressed in both formats.

Some of these discrepancies shall be caused by differences between my editor, Katie, and me. She didn't want to have her name to this at all but since I've been bouncing story ideas off her for over a year now I should give her some credit. You can find her here u/2189523/Kathleen-Anne-Vincent

The biggest thing I'd like to talk about is the future posting of this story on fanfiction. I've posted each issue as its own individual story, which my editor informed me is very much the wrong thing to do. I did it also because I liked adding the covers to each story, which she also told me "no one of FF cares about that." I think they look quite nice though. Well, nice-ish.

After this issue every future one shall be posted in a collection of several as different chapters in stories. They will be grouped together based upon a common narrative link, whether it is the featured villain, hero or event. It could be said that issue one to five could be contained as the one collected story as its themes include the rise of Batman, Batgirl and Joker. Issue six to ten will also be included together because of their overall story. Not every collection shall always be made of five stories, the first collection will be the final two chapters of collection one, so future collections could have as many as seven or as little as two. Each collection shall be labelled with which issue it includes.'

That's about that. I hope you like what's going on so far because there's more to come. If you'd like to see art from this series, from comic pages (soon) to concept art, covers and other stuff, you can find it at either:

.com  
.com  
/RabidDog008

Thank you.


End file.
